Thomas Davis Tests Positive for Illegal Substances

It looks like the Thomas Davis farewell tour is gonna be a little shorter now.

The Carolina Panthers took to Twitter on Friday to reveal to fans and followers that Thomas Davis was suspended by the NFL for testing positive for a banned substance. It was a positive trigger for an estrogen blocker that ultimately did him in, a substance expressly prohibited by NFL’s no-no list.

This is by far one of the saddest days of my NFL career. I never thought that this would happen to me. I’ve worked extremely hard to do things the right way on and off the field. Panther Nation please know that I am not a cheater. #KeepPoundingpic.twitter.com/zUppMfm6yk

In the video, Davis made no excuses for the positive test, stating that “the NFL clearly states that you as a player are responsible for what you put in your body.” He quickly followed it up by stating he had been on the same supplement regimen for the “last seven or eight years” and that he’s never tested positive before now.

Davis was handed down the traditional four game suspension, which will pare his 2018 season down to a meager twelve games. This is not just a blow to Davis himself, but to a Carolina defense that relies heavily on a solid linebacker core. This blow gets sharper with a lot of unanswered questions in the secondary, and especially in the war zone that we refer to as the NFC South.

Still, Davis stated that his “conscience was clear,” repeating countless times that he in no way has ever tried to cheat in order to gain a competitive advantage. This is corroborated by the fact that he is a devout Christian and a continuous presence in his community off the field, even earning the Walter Payton Man Of The Year award in 2014.

Nevertheless, it does raise a question. If he has been on the same supplements for years, why the positive result now? What about the other five or six years that he’s been taking the stuff. Why didn’t it set off alarms then? Has the NFL’s testing procedures changed? Or maybe one of the supplements Davis was taking changed to a “new and improved” formula?

We may never know the answer, but if this incident proves anything, it shows the character that Thomas Davis has, to say, “Yup, I screwed up. I’m gonna own it and deal with the consequences, whether I knew I messed up or not.” That is something refreshing to see from a sports figure that adolescents and adults alike look up to.

Do you believe him? Was the punishment fair? Tell us in the comments below!